Archery Association of India suspends coach Sunil Kumar for alleged misconduct with a female member of Great Britain team

The incident happened at the Youth World Archery Championship in Argentina during an official practice session where India had a successful campaign winning three medals.

Representative image of the sport of archery (Reuters)

Kolkata: Indian compound archery coach Sunil Kumar has been suspended by the Archery Association of India (AAI) for an alleged misconduct with a female member of the Great Britain team during the Youth World Archery Championship in Argentina.

The incident happened during the official practice session where India had a successful campaign winning three medals, including recurve mixed pair gold in the junior category.

The Haryana coach allegedly hugged a female member of the team Great Britain and was immediately sent back home for the inappropriate behaviour.

"There's a code of conduct of the World Archery and based on the reports we have suspended the coach. We have sought all the reports from the (international) federation and the (Britain) team," AAI secretary general Anil Kamineni told PTI.

Based on the reports, the AAI will conduct an internal inquiry into the matter and take action against the coach, who was appointed on the recommendation of the top-ranked Indian compound archer Mayank Rawat.

The AAI picks the coach on preference of the archer who topped in the selection trial as Sunil Kumar was part of the eight-member coaching team that accompanied 24 archers to Rosario.

A 2004 Olympian, Satyadev Prasad of Uttar Pradesh accompanied the team as team manager.

"I have mentioned in my report to the SAI; they are looking and investing further," Prasad told PTI from Meerut.

The Haryana coach could not be contacted but it's learnt that he has written a "letter of apology" to the AAI and SAI.